Anthropological fieldwork conducted in two North Indian villages focused on cultural differences attributable to recent irrigation development. The study of introduced irrigation systems is distinguished from studies of traditional irrigation systems. The varieties of impacts due to irrigation development are reviewed from the literature and hypotheses formulated relating to economic change (cropping patterns, labor demand, profitability), socio-economic behavior (occupations, patron-client relations, household composition), and cultural values (modernization and traditionalization). The methodology of controlled comparison was adopted as a means of isolating the effects of canal irrigation (Bhakra canal) in the Bagar region of Northwest India. A mostly unirrigated village served as a control to measure the effects of irrigation in a "wet" village. Data on agricultural practices, labor use, occupations, household composition, and material culture were collected from a systematic sample of 40 households in each village. The primary irrigation effects have been economic: higher yields, new crops (wheat and cotton), and much higher profits. Labor demand is much higher in the irrigated village, though cropping intensity is actually lower. Residents of the drier village have diversified into non-farm work both within and outside the village. A few families have migrated out, in contrast to the wet village which has experienced a dramatic rise in population, largely from immigrants. Sociocultural measures, including jajmani relations, household composition, and religious shrines show relatively few contrasts between the villages. Both villages have undergone significant changes in the past generation, in one case due primarily to agricultural intensification, and in the other case due to economic diversification. The villages are more remarkable for their present similarities than their differences.

Anthropological research conducted in the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project area of the western Indian state of Rajasthan during 1984-1985 assessed the impact of agricultural land settlement planning on village community formation. The large-scale project, begun in 1957, has brought irrigation water to the extremely arid Thar desert and has brought irrigation water to the extremely arid Thar desert and has dramatically altered the social and physical landscape. Significant efforts have been made by the Government of Rajasthan to select settlers from the poor and landless population, as part of a social welfare policy, allocate agricultural land to them and create new settler communities. A single village, one of the earliest established by the project, was selected for the study of community formation. Historical and contemporary data were collected on five themes: (1) the settler household, (2) kinship, (3) patronage, (4) institution building, and (5) socieconomic stratification. For each theme area, a series of questions were asked regarding the impact of settlement planning. Although settlement planning has been a major influence on the study village, research revealed that settlers arrived under highly diverse circumstances and played diverse roles in the process of community growth. Research also revealed that the village community has maintained some traditional features of Indian social organization in the face of great upheaval associated with settlement. Both the indigenous families and some of the earliest unplanned settlers have developed large local kinship networks, assumed positions of wealth in a hierarchical caste system, and have been involved in building political institutions based on a stratified system. They have also been responsible for attracting later settlers, including both landless agriculturalists and, to a limited extent, service workers. The settlers selected according to settlement policies have not developed extensive kin networks and have been less active in institution building and developing patronage relationships.